On Wed, 2009-09-23 at 23:16 +0930, Tim wrote: > If you need file access over Windows and Linux, then Samba is the > usual > solution. If the file access is only between Linux boxes, then NFS is > the usual solution. SMB/CIFS (the protocols Samba uses) can be cranky > on Windows, where name resolution isn't working, and when machines > join > the network (they have an election for who gets to be top dog, and it > seems to be done like a dog fight - bloody with a slow recovery > period). ---- just for clarification sake since you insinuate that this is madness... Samba, like any Windows computer on any network will compete to be the master browser on the LAN but at some point (perhaps it was Fedora 9), the 'nmb' daemon was separated from the 'smb' daemon (see /etc/init.d/) so that unless you specifically start the nmb daemon, a Fedora computer running smb will not be part of the election. The election occurs about every 15 minutes unless the last election winner announces that it is shutting down. The election determines which computer will provide a NETBIOS list of computers on the LAN (NETBIOS name resolution). Fedora users can actually determine which Windows computer is the master browser by opening up a terminal and typing... nmblookup -M -- - (note, include the dashes as above... 2 dashes, a space and then another dash). What you are probably referring to as 'slow recovery period' is because of past experiences showing computers that were shut down or turned on since the previous election and whether they show up or not in browse lists. This is standard Microsoft Windows behavior. This is well documented behavior by both Microsoft and Samba. Default samba settings would likely cause a Fedora samba server to win the election against Windows XP and Windows Vista computers but again, only if you start the 'nmb' service. Default samba settings on Fedora would not likely cause it to win an election if some Windows server were on the LAN. But NETBIOS does not provide DNS resolution, only name resolution for Windows services. So it is generally of little interest to Linux users unless you do more sophisticated things with say nsswitch.conf but that is beyond what most people will do with their boxes. Craig -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean. -- fedora-list mailing list fedora-list@xxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe: https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list Guidelines: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Communicate/MailingListGuidelines
